Contents

History

The village has long had a role in transportation, primarily as a railroad junction. From the arrival of the first railroads in the late 1840s until rail diminished in importance in the 1960s due to the
Interstate Highway System, White River Junction was the most important railroad community in Vermont.[6] Its original importance was due to its location at the confluence of the
White River with the
Connecticut River. In 1803 Elias Lyman built a bridge across the Connecticut from the north bank of the White River to
West Lebanon, New Hampshire.[4]

Demographics

As of the
census[1] of 2000, there were 2,569 people, 1,169 households, and 648 families residing in the village. The
population density was 1,557.6 per square mile (601.1/km2). There were 1,235 housing units at an average density of 748.8 per square mile (289.0/km2). The racial makeup of the village was 96.54%
White, 0.58%
African American, 0.43%
Native American, 0.70%
Asian, 0.04% from
other races, and 1.71% from two or more races.
Hispanic or
Latino of any race were 0.58% of the population.

There were 1,169 households out of which 28.1% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 38.0% were
married couples living together, 13.4% had a female householder with no husband present, and 44.5% were non-families. 36.9% of all households were made up of individuals and 15.7% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.19 and the average family size was 2.86.

In the village the population was spread out with 24.3% under the age of 18, 7.3% from 18 to 24, 29.9% from 25 to 44, 23.3% from 45 to 64, and 15.3% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 38 years. For every 100 females, there were 89.0 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 86.8 males.

The median income for a household in the village was $33,667, and the median income for a family was $44,094. Males had a median income of $34,200 versus $21,591 for females. The
per capita income for the village was $17,221. About 8.1% of families and 11.6% of the population were below the
poverty line, including 17.0% of those under age 18 and 4.7% of those age 65 or over.

Culture

White River Junction served as the location for the filming of director
D.W. Griffith's film Way Down East, in part filmed on the ice floes of the Connecticut and White rivers, starring
Lillian Gish and
Richard Barthelmess. While filming, both cast and crew lodged at the Hotel Coolidge (then the Junction House). After 1950, important murals were painted on the walls of this hotel by Peter Gish. One of these, saying simply "ROOM WITH BATH" and a large arrow, has become a bit of a landmark. S. Douglas Crockwell painted a mural, Vermont Industries, in the post office in 1937. Federally commissioned murals were produced from 1934 to 1943 in the United States through the
Section of Painting and Sculpture, later called the
Section of Fine Arts, of the
Treasury Department.[9]

Hotel Coolidge, renovated in 1997, now operates as a 30-room hotel and a 26-bed
youth hostel by
Hostelling International USA.[10][11] The 1920s structure once served as a
railway hotel. The hotel is said to be haunted by the
ghost of Ezra "Wrench" Magoon, a farmer and known bootlegger who died in the Hotel Coolidge in the summer of 1918.[12]

It is also home to the
Tip Top Building, a renovated 45,000-square-foot (4,200 m2) bakery that houses artists, creative businesses and a cafe. The renovation was orchestrated by Matt Bucy, a
Yale-trained architect who formerly wrote software for
New England Digital.

The Main Street Museum, described by the Washington Post as "quirky and avant garde", is an eclectic display space for
material culture and an experiment in a new
taxonomy. It makes its home in White River Junction's former fire station on Bridge Street, next to the underpass.

White River Junction is home to
Northern Stage, a professional regional theatre. It is also home to The Writers' Center, which offers classes and workshops to the local writing community.

Transportation

Roads and highways

To take advantage of the village's location as one of Vermont's busiest junctions, and as the place where the state's two major Interstate highways meet, several chain hotels have been built in the area.

Bus

Greyhound, the national intercity bus system, provides daily service to and from White River Junction from a terminal on the corner of
US Route 5 and Sykes Mountain Road. Two of their lines serve this station: one between
Montreal and
Boston, and the other represents the northern terminus of a line to
New York City. Premier Coach's Vermont Translines, as part of a partnership with Greyhound, also stops there on its route between
Rutland and
Lebanon, New Hampshire. Service on this route began on June 9, 2014.[13][14]

Advance Transit provides local bus transportation in and around the White River Junction area. All routes are fare free and run on weekdays only.[15]